Monday, February 25, 2008

Howdy do!
It's been awhile (yet again) since my last post, however, give me an A for effort. I don't always get to the computer as often as I would like in a day.

Felix said something ..... interesting before she left for school today. She said, "I wished I had quit my job teaching at a Jewish school so that I could stay home all day like you."

Hmmmm .......

I guess if I were really mean I could have responded back with, "Well, I suppose I could go back to working full time but then you'll be doing your own laundry, taking care of all the animals in the morning, making sure you have dinner ready and breakfast and lunch and doing the shopping and buying your own clothes and school supplies and toys and presents and ..........."

However, I stopped (reminding myself that I'm the adult) because I realize that she is young and we all probably thought as kids that being a 'grown-up' was going to be great because you could do anything you wanted to do and you could stay home all day if you chose to and there wasn't 12 pages of Social Science homework looming over your head when you returned home from your drudgery at school.

Kids say the darnest things.

This is what Thomas and I did over this weekend: finishing the chicken coop. This structure used to be an open firewood shed and tanning shed (the guy who lived here was a taxidermist). You could actually see old blood on the concrete floor. Lovely.

Anyway, we have re-tooled it into a pigeon coop and the other end is going to be a chicken coop. You can see the finished pigeon coop in the first pic. This pic shows the other end. We have only to finish putting on the side panel, door and then the inside and then we're done. This project has been in motion for about a year and a half. Time is not on our side all of the time.

It's been so nice the past few days; no rain and warming up for the beginning of SPRING!!! Yeah!! One of my most favorite seasons (the other being of course, SUMMER!!!). So while we've had good weather, we're trying to finish unfinished projects.

My next project is the goat fence which will be an electric tape around the perimeter of the yard. This will keep the goats in and the dogs out .... in theory of course. Thomas is worried about the kids and the dogs. I told him that it's just a zap; just enough to say, "Uh uh uh. No going through the fence." It won't have 22,000 volts running through a little electrical tape. Kind of reactive teaching. Owen is smart enough to figure it out and Felix and Robee I'm sure will want to test it, just to be sure. The dogs have already experienced it at Rhonda's house (friend of mine who is free boarding Felix's goat) so they know too. It may also help to keep the coyotes out as well.

This video is placed here in remembrance of my wonderful times with my MMSC girls. We were on our way to a play and Chana (as usual) got a hold of my phone and this is what happened:

I miss my girls very much and will always remember them as being some of the brightest, funniest, most creative kids I've ever run across.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Another tournament, another tropy

It's not that I'm complaining mind you; I'm actually quite thrilled that the kids are doing so well in their sport. However, we're starting to accumulate a number of trophies and I don't know where they're going to go after the top of the desk is filled! Jen's bamboo plant is fighting for space as it is. And we have about four more tournaments before World's in June.



Robee getting ready to do his form. He took third in Forms.



I don't know what happened to all my pics from the tournament but everyone is orange. I think it may be because of the color of the mats plus the gym we were in was painted a bright yellow-orange color. I have no idea really.



Felix stretching. She took second in Sparring.



Felix took second in Sparring but zip in Forms (which I still haven't figured out why; I didn't see any missteps but I'm not the judge). Because she is the only one from our school sparring and if she does well in the next two tournaments, she could be State Champion in her division in Sparring.

There are no photos of Thomas or myself at this tournament. None of me because no one knew where the camera was when I was doing my thing and none of Thomas because I was designated score-keeper during his round. So we're non-exsistent for this tournament. However he won second in Forms and first in Sparring --- which is terrific!! This boosts his overall score up and maybe he will be state champion in Sparring for his division.

I got zip in Forms; I was doing great through the whole thing until the last step I muffed it and it threw me completely off. However, I did receive second in Sparring which will also boost me up and I could also be State Champion in Sparring in my division (the really really old ladies of Tae Kwon Do in case you were wondering).

There seems to be a reocurring theme; sparring. We must like to kick and hit. Hmmmmm.

On my next post, I'll try to find my Obama pics. We were able to attend the Obama rally in Seattle. I took a bunch of pics of him speaking but two days later, my phone went on the blitz and I lost everything. I did send some to other family members who didn't get to attend so I may be able to retrieve them. We missed the caucus in Washington because of the tournament, but luckily we had Angie and Jen and stoic little Owen battling the crowds to speak for us.

Ta for now.

Sunday, February 3, 2008



Hair do #3


Okay. So I can't decide WHAT to do with my hair. It was a disaster! I asked the stylist to thin it out and she did as I asked but holy cow! I ended up with a mess. So I got it fixed today. And it's much better.




Thomas, Jen, Owen watching Superbowl



All the kids (except for Emilee and her tribe) were here for the Superbowl. Food food and more food was the name of the game. I wasn't as interested in this game due to the fact that the Seahawks weren't playing. I only care when a team I know and like is playing. But it's nice to have everyone here anyway, regardless of the teams. Ang and Steve came by too and we finally were able to celebrate her birthday ... a mere five days late!






Angie - "Am I really that old?"




It looks as though Angie and Steve will be getting married sometime in August, which means I'll two special weddings that month; Angie's and my niece, Heidi's!




I am no longer working for MMSC (my Jewish school) since January 24. After much deliberation, I finally decided that an hour drive to work and trying to prep for 10 classes (five grades, five subjects) was getting to my brain. I was not able to give as much as I wanted to the students and was a complete anger-mom to my kids due to lack of sleep. Not okay.




So I'm going to sub for a bit and then see what comes open to the schools in the spring and summer.





Owen watching the Superbowl, completely relaxed!




Not Tuesdays, however. Tuesdays are reserved for Owen and I to have fun. I get to watch Owen those days so that Jen can work at the office or meet clients; whichever needs to be done. I like having older kids who are independent but it's nice to be around a little one again and experience all the new things that they discover. I miss that with my kids.




Owen and me (he calls me Kiki)






Robee and Felix are moving through school like little soliders (and I don't know if I mean that in a good way) and they do like school. Felix is in band and plays the clarinet and sings in the choir.


Jaycee, Felix, Leah - in the school band (two of Felix's good friends)



Robee is now in the choir as well. Both have received awards for Student of the Month and Felix has been recognized for her reading by acquiring 132 AR (Accelerated Reader) points in one semester; which is very good.





We're all still in Tae Kwon Do and have another tournament next week in Tacoma. I am very grateful to Thomas who talked me into joining. I love the workout and the opportunity to spend three nights a week with he and the kids. And then we always go to Starbucks for hot chocolate (kids) and Green Tea Lattes (for us). We must fund most of their paychecks.

That's it for this post. The game is over, NY won and I'm trying to watch Maria Shriver endorse Barack Obama for President! What a wonderful thing!
It's also time for bed for all the kids and time to clean up. Yum. Leftovers!